A/N-"If it works, it will help keep almost six million programs safe."
"And if it doesn't, then you derezz."
There is something that Feral wants to do before upgrading her code. Because there should be some way for her to help Rinzler keep the Grid's programs safe...
Song list for this chapter: 'Disease' by Matchbox 20
'Albinonio's Adagio in G Minor' by the BBC Orchestra or the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Additional A/N-Hi.
Ummm...I think I should warn you now, gentle readers, that sometimes the voices in my head decide that stories should NOT take the left turn at Albuquerque. Sometimes they think that the story should be happy, or sad, or much longer than planned-or much shorter than anticipated.
Feel free to hate me about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way through this chapter.
It's been fun...
~*~story continues past this line containing the cheetos of doom~*~
"I still think that this is the worst idea that you have ever had."
"Oh believe me, I've had worse."
"That fails to make me feel better about this," came the dry reply.
"If it works, it will help keep almost six million programs safe."
"And if it doesn't, then you derezz."
"Life is full of risks that way."
"That's not funny…."
The voices echoed off of the dark, sharply angled walls of the sea side cliffs as their owners grew closer to the sea itself.
"You're certain? It's fixed code, right? The stuff only a User could affect?"
The owner of the voice came into view, looking up and down the dark shoreline as she did so.
"I know fixed code when I scan it," said the owner of the first voice; a taller figure that was assessing the area as he walked. "No program or virus can change it."
The first figure spoke up again. "Where is this cave you found, anyway, Rinzler? I don't see it."
The tall program let out an irritated huff and turned to answer her. "That was the point, remember? You said you need a place that wouldn't be found, and could be quarantined safely. He received nothing in reply but a stare.
"It's this way." Rinzler led Feral to a small cave tucked away behind the rocky outcropping of one of the cliffs.
The cave was small, but wide; barely deep enough for Rinzler to lie down and stretch his arms above his head. The ceiling was high enough that he didn't need to duck his head to enter, but not by much. The cave itself was formed form the same glassy black stone as most of the Outlands, and reflected back the light from their circuits in dulled, blurry spots as they entered it. Inside the cave, the echo of the waves against the shore seemed louder; like the beating of a User's heart, he thought to himself.
"You're sure that you can set up a quarantine that will hold the sea's virus even if it's in a different host?" Feral asked.
"I helped set up the one that contains it now," he told her. "It will hold."
She walked out of the cave and stood looking out over the sea.
Rinzler joined her at her side a moment later, watching her face as she unconsciously chewed on her lower lip.
"You don't have to do this," he told her.
She froze for a moment at his words, before shaking her head in denial. "No. I need to do this. Without a User on the other side of the screen working on this, and no other User on the Grid, this is the only thing that has a chance to clear the virus," she said.
"I want you to not do this."
Feral turned her head to look at Rinzler and gave him a small smile that failed to hide how nervous she was.
"We discussed this, remember? Protecting the system? Well, this lets me protect it in a way that only I can. C'mon, security; I would have thought you would have a little more enthusiasm for the idea," she said, trying to lighten things by teasing him a little. "Besides, I'm going to do it. You helping me just keeps everyone else that much safer," she added.
She looked back towards the Sea of Simulation. Giving herself a hard shake, Feral took a deep breath and let it out again in a huff.
"Stay well away from me when I come out. I'll go straight into the cave; you quarantine it as soon as I'm in there," she told him, refusing to look at him as she spoke. "Don't let me out again unless you know for sure that I've…tamed, or killed the virus."
"I won't," he said grimly.
Feral took another deep breath, let it out, and walked into the sea. Unlike every other time she had done so, this time she was wearing her disc. Rinzler could see her give a slight shudder as the waves washed over her disc dock. She ducked her head and disappeared under the water.
He stood on the shore, unmoving as he waited. Finally, Feral surfaced; gasping as she started to wade to shore.
"Get back," she called as she came closer to the store. "I don't want you to be unable to keep from derezzing me before I can get to the cave."
Rinzler wanted to argue with her, but feeling his circuits almost crawling with the urge to fight—to destroy the threat to the system that was drawing closer to the shore with every picocycle—he merely moved further back. Far enough away the he no longer had to battle the urge to pull his disc.
Don't touch any of the water," Feral said as she reached the shore. Her voice was already slightly hoarse. "Stay out of the puddles that drip off of me." She made her way up the beach and disappeared into the cave.
"Seal it," he heard from the cave.
Rinzler carefully made his way over to the cave mouth, avoiding the puddles on the ground as he did so. The urge to destroy the threat was much stronger now; and he was almost shaking as he restrained himself to simply quarantining off the cave. When the quarantine field was secure he leaned back, taking a deep breath at the relief that it brought to his senses.
Now for the hard part.
Rinzler went and sat down on a rock where he could see the cave mouth. All he had to do was wait. Either Feral would come out—having dealt with the virus—or he would deal with what she had become.
He hoped that it would be Feral.
Rinzler had been waiting outside the cave for over a microcycle. He had waited, watching the cave for a while. Then he had spent time listening to the waves as the washed back and forth on the beach. Intake some energy, and then it was back to watching the cave. He was contemplating watching the Sea for a while when he heard it.
A rough, choked breath.
It was soon followed by a wet, rasping chuckle.
"I know you're out there, little program," came a voice from the cave. The voice sounded somewhat like Feral's—if she were gargling a mouthful of derezzing voxels. "I can feel you," said the voice. "Do I have you to thank for my…enforced stay?"
The voice chuckled wetly again, the sound setting all of his anti-viral protocols on edge.
"Come closer…" it urged him, "…security. Let me get a good look at you. I'll even return the favor."
Not wanting to see this…'not-Feral' however, unable to resist his curiosity, Rinzler drew nearer to the mouth of the cave.
"Too shy to show your face?" it asked him as he moved closer. "A shame. She has wanted to see it for so long," it said, mockingly. "Ah well…I'm not so shy. Take a good look."
There was a scuffling sound in the darkness of the cave and then the viral approached the quarantine field at the cave mouth. Her head was down—as though her gaze was focused on the ground—and flickers of a sickly yellow light appeared and disappeared randomly through her circuitry. She raised a hand and placed it lightly against the quarantine field. He could see her fingers tighten as a shock from contact with the field went through her.
Her head tilted slightly to the side as the voice hissed out of her again. "Ah, this feels familiar," it said.
"You're hurting yourself doing that," Rinzler said gruffly, the damaged growl thick from his agitation and unease.
"No, you're hurting her," said the mocking voice. "She doesn't mind, though. I know; I can see it. She likes that you are strong enough to hurt her."
The voice was amused now. "Oh, she doesn't like that I told you that. So angry!" The viral was silent for a moment as her/its head raised.
It's not Feral, Rinzler thought fiercely to himself as he watched it. Its eyes were still closed as it gave him a smirking smile.
"I know you now," the viral said. "Your quarantine is too familiar to forget, Champion." With that said, the viral opened its eyes.
While in Feral's eyes green and brown had vied for dominance according to her mood; the viral's eyes shone with the same sickly yellow light that flickered through her circuits.
"The vaunted Grid champion. Protector. Guardian. Oh yes, I remember you," the viral told him. "Going by a different name now, hmm? I could tell her your previous name…. I don't think I will, however. Much more amusing—just the two of us knowing who you really are. More…intimate."
Rinzler refused to answer the viral's taunt; continuing to stare silently and unmoving at it. The viral tilted its head as it watched him, a grin very like Feral's on its face.
"Such a stubborn little program she is…" it crooned. "Did you teach her that? She's still trying to fight me."
Rinzler could see slight tremors going through her body as she stood there.
The viral turned and began stalking up and down the cave mouth, shooting glances at him as it did so. Stepping back slightly from the cave mouth, Rinzler noticed that the viral was not moving with Feral's usual grace.
The viral suddenly stopped short and shot him a narrowed look from its sickly yellow eyes.
"What type of program is she?" it asked him. "She's…different…from most of my…hosts."
Rinzler continued to stare impassively at the viral. A few moments later, it began its pacing of the cave mouth again.
Once he had started watching the viral, he found he could not stop. A sort of horrified, morbid fascination kept him there; able to see and hear everything that it said or did.
The virus' motions slowly grew jerkier and more stilted as the microcycle continued. It continued to try to bait Rinzler into interacting with it; taunting and mocking both Rinzler and the viral's 'host'. Feral's body was shuddering almost continuously now, making her body's movements even jerkier. He was beginning to dread having it speak to him. Seeing its eyes glowing out of Feral's face and expressions was more disturbing than he wanted to admit.
He hadn't felt like this since Abraxas appeared. Knowing that Feral had willingly exposed herself to the virus somehow made it even worse.
In the cave mouth, the viral's pacing suddenly stopped. Its jerky movements had gone past tremors and small shudders. Now, its body was visibly shaking as it tried to stand.
It gave a small, harsh cry and grabbed at its head and fell against the quarantine field; its shoulder and side taking the brunt of the shock when they hit the field. A thin whine crept out of its mouth, but it did not try to move away from the pain of contact with the field.
The viral spoke again, its voice harsher and yet clearer than it had been in microcycles.
"Rinzler," it called to him.
It startled him, although he managed to keep from showing his surprise. How did the viral know his name? He worried about what that meant for Feral; if it was gaining access to her memories.
"Rinzler," it called again. "I can't keep it down for much longer."
Rinzler cautiously came neared to the cave mouth. Was it Feral speaking? He needed to know.
The body leaning against the quarantine field slowly lifted its head to look at him; showing him eyes free from the taint of the poisonous light of the virus.
"How?" Rinzler asked. "Is it…. Are you….?"
Feral shook her head slightly.
"No. The pain is helping me distract it. Do you remember the first piece of music you wanted to know about?"
And don't name it," she said immediately. "Don't say anything about it." Her voice sounded almost frantic as she spoke.
Looking at her face, Rinzler merely nodded.
"You remember?" she asked again.
He nodded once more, signing 'yes' as he did so. He had hoped that it would help her calm down; however, she seemed no calmer after he replied. If anything, Feral seemed even more upset.
"It's stronger than I had hoped," she told him. "I can't fight it a little at a time. No matter what you hear or see, do not drop the quarantine unless I play that music. Understand?"
If it goes on for too long, don't keep it quarantined. Seal it away; so it can never get out."
"Get back," she said, looking back at the ground and breathing heavily. Her voice had grown harsher by that point.
A few picocycles later, the viral pushed itself away from the force field, hissing at the pain the movement caused. It was still shaking as it did, although not as violently as it had been while Feral had been in control.
The horrid voice of the viral was back. Rinzler could hear it as it muttered angrily to itself, its voice steadily rising.
"…stupid little glitching NULL BIT!" the viral raged, panting. "Was that the best you could do? You cannot keep fighting me much longer!" The viral began laughing; a strange, high, deranged sound that scraped across Rinzler's audio inputs. Still giggling dementedly, the viral stood up and moved deeper into the cave. Into the darkness, where only the dimly flickering glow of its circuitry could be seen.
More time passed.
There were occasionally scuffling noises heard from the back of the cave; however, the viral thankfully refused to reveal itself. Millicycles had passed since Feral had first entered the cave; enough time that Rinzler had long since passed worry, and was trying to decide how long he should wait before he would seal the cave.
Frustrated with his current inability to do something that could help fight the virus, Rinzler began examining the mouth of the cave for the best way to seal it off. He was crouched on the ground when he raised his head to find the viral staring back at him, its face level with his.
It gave him a considering smile; like it had been told to pick out a present and was deciding which one would be more fun to play with.
"Tell me…" it said to him, still smiling, "…what is a firewall like you doing with this little glitch?"
What is she to you?" it asked, watching him. "Not a lover. Is she a friend? Oh I know; she's your last chance for redemption, isn't she?" The viral's smile turned into a wide grin as it watched Rinzler's hand tighten where it rested on the ground.
"Do you think that if you can save this one glitching little program it will make up for all of the programs that I've taken from this system?" The viral laughed.
"One by one, I will take them ALL from you, security," it hissed at him, those yellow eyes glaring out from Feral's face. "No matter how long it takes me, I will infect all of them…protector."
Rinzler went back to examining the cave mouth, ignoring the viral that was still watching him.
"Do you really think that keeping me trapped here will keep this system's programs safe?" it asked him in a voice like sweet poison. "I fill the Sea…. I waited hundreds of cycles for this little program; I can wait hundreds—thousands—more for the next one."
The viral leaned back on its heels and gave him a small, satisfied smile; the yellow light flickering brighter and more frequently over Feral's circuits.
"I don't mind the wait," it said in a conversational tone. "In time, someone else will touch the Sea…and you will not be able to quarantine them in time." The viral continued speaking, "I will spread through this system, destroying it; and when I do, I will make certain that the last sound you hear will be this system's programs…screaming."
Rinzler's growl was back in full force; the distortion caused by his damaged voxels grinding against each other loud in the silence left after the viral's last statement. He slowly rose to stand, looking at the viral smirking in front of him. Between his anti-viral protocols and the coding over-writes that had been added by CLU, he wanted nothing more than to drop the quarantine and destroy the viral. To eliminate the smug expression that it held on his friend's face. Rinzler's fingers twitched slightly, wanting to reach for his discs. Only the knowledge that he would have to drop the quarantine to terminate the viral's functions kept him from doing so. If he dropped the field, the virus might be able to escape. No matter how slim the chance, he would not give the viral that opportunity.
His growl continued to rumble softly in the air as he looked down at the smirking viral. Slowly and deliberately Rinzler turned his back on the viral and walked away. He stopped only when he had reached the very edge of being able to hear anything from the cave. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared out over the sea.
Even tainted as it was with the virus, it was still a nice view.
More time passed. It was well into the fourth millicycle since Feral had entered the cave.
The viral had raved at Rinzler, taunted, paced, and finally fallen silent. Eventually it had simply sat down and stared at him. A while ago it appeared to have gone into a sleep cycle and was now sprawled across the cave floor, its circuitry fading until it could barely be seen.
A harsh groan dragged Rinzler's attention back to the body on the floor of the cave. It pushed itself up onto its hands, lifting its head to blink eyes that no longer shone with yellow light up at him.
"Rinzler…" Feral's voice came from the body staring at him. "It's over. I'm not infected anymore." She coughed harshly, trying to take a deep breath.
I think I need some energy," she said. "I still feel really weak."
Rinzler started to move closer to the cave and suddenly stopped to look at her. She had just said that she felt weak. Feral hated the thought of being weak. One of the fastest ways that he knew of to cause her to lose her temper was to say or even suggest that she was weak. Rinzler stared at the figure in the cave, waiting.
"I'm supposed to do something before you take down the quarantine, aren't I?" she asked him.
He gave her a short—almost curt—nod of the head.
She lowered her head for a moment, panting.
"I'm really tired, Rinzler," she pleaded. "Remind me again what it is I'm supposed to do?"
"Song," came the growled reply from the security program.
"Song. Right. I am supposed to play you a song so you know it's not the viral. Just me," she said, her voice tired. "One song, coming up." She closed her eyes, looking as though resting.
A few picocycles later, a voice could be heard, filling the cave. A male voice, singing, "…I can't live without you. Tell me what am I supposed to do about it…"
Rinzler cocked his head, confused as the voice continued to sing. "…keep your distance from it…Don't pay no attention to me…I got a disease…I think that I'm sick…"
He stepped back away from the cave mouth and the quarantine that sealed it as the last words were sung.
The song cut off abruptly as the viral opened its eyes again. The sickly yellow light was back in them.
"The little gridbug," it said softly. "She tricked me. Smart program."
The viral tried to push itself up, but seemed to lose its strength half-way to sitting; causing it to fall back onto the ground under it.
"It won't matter soon," the viral panted. "Without more energy, she'll derezz. Let her have energy, and I'll use that chance to infect you."
The viral laughed weakly. "You lose, security," it said. "And I will simply be waiting for a new host."
In the corner of the cave, just close enough for Rinzler to see it in the gloom, was the viral. It had crawled there shortly after the viral had last spoken. He had watched for a while as it had pulled until it was almost sitting up against the cave wall before slumping there, exhausted. Rinzler had tried to not watch, but noticed that every time he looked at the viral the light from its circuits had grown dimmer. Now, the circuits flickered weakly, almost vanishing entirely at times as the colors changed from poisonous yellow, to red-orange, to white and back; the order of the colors varying wildly.
The circuits were so pale and faint now that it was almost impossible to tell them apart. Rinzler hoped that his perception that the yellow was appearing less frequently was correct.
The lights continued to stutter; entire circuits blinking out completely at times.
The program gave a faint, gasping breath; and then its circuitry went dark.
Rinzler was at the quarantine field immediately; getting as close as he could to the body that leaned brokenly against the wall of the cave. He watched, waiting for the light to blink back through its circuits.
When its circuits remained dark, his worry and frustration took over.
"Feral?" he called to her softly, his growl still loud in his voice.
There was no reply; no sound or movement from the body in the cave.
"Feral!" Rinzler snarled, pounding a fist angrily against the force field; ignoring the pain that the contact produced.
"Don't you dare! You owe me a fragging song!"
The program's circuit remained dark.
How dare she! I told her he did not want her doing this. That this was a bad idea. When she comes out of that cave I am going to…I will…
"No!" Rinzler bellowed. "NO!" Pounding on the force field, on the ground, his hands clenched in angry fists. Until finally….
"…no…" quietly, voice unheard for the growl that covered everything.
He turned and looked out over the virus-infected sea; the sea that had claimed another from the system he had been brought here to protect.
As the waves continued to roll in relentlessly, he thought to himself bitterly that it was still a nice view.
Rinzler could not say how long he stood looking out over the sea. The information was there—all programs could sense time passing on the Grid; however, he refused to access it.
He turned from the Sea of Simulation and made his way the short distance to the cave. He would seal it away. Only a User would be able to remove the quarantine that he would place on it. As the head security program for the system he could put quarantines up that even the system's administrator would not be able to remove. Feral would remain undisturbed.
Rinzler went to the cave opening and gave a last look inside. Feral's body was crumpled against the wall, her body turned slightly away from him. He wished that he had been able to see her face one last time.
Just as he was about to turn away a small, faint flash of light caught his attention.
Blink.
There. What was that?
Blink.
That small circuit on the back of her neck… Had it just…?
Blink.
The circuit was small, not even as long as his thumb; and it now had a faint orange glow.
Another circuit started to flicker faintly, then another. A few nanocycles later, all of her circuitry had a warm—if faint—orange glow.
Rinzler let out a breath that he had not realized that he had been holding. Feral wasn't derezzed—dead—since she was a User.
From the form slumped against the wall came a short, sharp, gasping intake of air; followed by a small pained cry.
He watched as the program clutched at her chest, as though it hurt to breathe. The program shifted painfully where it was sitting, lifting its head until he could see its face.
What looked like Feral blinked weary eyes in his direction.
"Rinzler?"
He took a step closer to the cave, stopping in front of the quarantine field.
"Should I be able to see you if you sealed this cave so that the virus can never get out?"
Arms crossed over his chest, Rinzler shook his head 'no' in answer to her question.
"You and I will need to talk about that later," she said. "However, first things first…"
The cave was suddenly filled with sound; as strains of music were counterpointed by the faint sound of the waves from the Sea reaching the shore. The music was slow—somehow sad and stately—yet full of hope; like the Sea of Simulation washing in and out behind him.
Albinonia's Adagio in G Minor.
The first piece of User music he had ever asked her about. This was Feral, and not the virus.
With an immense sense of relief, Rinzler dropped the quarantine and went to her; already holding what had to be a much needed source of energy for her.
Feral managed to get her hand wrapped around the bottle; however, she did not have the strength to hold it for herself. Only his quick reflexes kept it from falling to the ground. He could hear Feral next to him muttering a combination of User-style and Grid curses directed towards virals, viruses, and what she declared to be her 'stupid weakness.' Rinzler held the bottle to her mouth.
"Drink," he growled.
"I'm only letting you do this because I can't stop you," she huffed indignantly. "If you would just give me some time I can—"
"Crash," he interrupted. "Drink now."
Feral gave him a glare and started drinking. Before long her circuits were noticeably brighter, and she could hold the container of energy without assistance. He gave her another three bottles of energy to drink before he was satisfied.
She started to get up when she had finished drinking the last of the energy; only to find herself being pushed back down by a large hand on her chest.
"Rest," Rinzler said, his growl still rumbling through the cave.
"I'll be fine," Feral said. Her eyes narrowed as she spoke. "You haven't had a sleep cycle since we came out here, either; and you're not resting. She moved his hand and for a second time tried to get up.
Once again, she found herself stopped; this time by a rough push down from Rinzler's hand.
"Rest," he told her, "…or I'll put the quarantine back up until you do."
"I'll stay here and rest," she told him, poking at his chest with her finger. "…if you do also. Put the quarantine up, if you're worried about anything, but YOU need rest, too."
The security monitor growled at her, and then made himself comfortable against the cave wall. He watched as she stretched out on the floor of the cave, pillowing her head on her arms. She turned her back to him and got ready to sleep.
"This isn't over," he heard her say, grumpily. "We will be discussing this, later."
The beginning of the next millicycle found them both standing on the black, empty shore line, just out of reach of the waves and spray. The cliffs rose behind them, a protective wall hiding them from the city. They were both rested and recharged fully, and Feral had decided that now was the best time to finish what she had come out here to accomplish.
"You would think that it would be easier this time," she said in a wry voice as she looked out over the waves.
She started to take a step towards the Sea, only to be pulled up short by the hand that gripped her arm almost painfully tight.
"Don't," Rinzler said, shaking his head 'no' as he spoke.
Feral looked down at the hand on her arm and then up at Rinzler.
"Are you serious?" she asked him, disbelief in her voice. "You think that I went through THAT…" she said, waving her other hand back towards the cave, "…to not finish this?"
"Don't," he growled again.
"Let go of my arm," she told him, heat in her voice and a hard glint of growing anger in her eyes.
Rinzler shook her arm again. "You were not the only one who had to deal with what happened," he rasped at her. "Your functions terminated, Feral. Do you not understand that? I don't know how you restored…."
Don't risk yourself again. Just…don't."
"Rinzler," she said, softly. "Let go of my arm."
His grip on her arm loosened, and then he dropped his hand.
Feral reached out and laid her hand lightly on his arm.
"I don't know everything that happened in the cave, yet," she told him. "Maybe I will never know. I may not have died…it might have been that I was in a coma… I do know that it could not have been easy on you to be there. I'm glad you were there, though; and I'm glad that you are here now."
Because this is going to be finished, one way or the other."
It's a virus; I'm a User. We've already talked about this. If it couldn't take me over before, then the worst thing that will happen is that I fail to cure the Sea."
I'm going out there, and you are not going to stop me."
She dropped her hand from Rinzler's arm and—still looking at him—walked out into the Sea.
It only took a few moments before the waves were lapping at her disc dock. She stopped and looked at him, her face and body tight with anticipation of what came next. When she realized that he was still watching her, she gave him a small, grim smile and a salute; and dove beneath the surface of the sea.
Several more long moments went by before Feral rose out of the water; much closer to the shore than she had been, and began walking towards the beach. She was squeezing water out of her hair as she came nearer to him.
"How am I doing?" she called to him. "Do I show up as clean on your anti-viral protocols?"
"No," Rinzler replied, gruffly. "However, the viral readings are fading. You should be virus free soon."
Congratulations. It seems to have worked."
Feral stopped just outside of his reach, waves continuing to wash around her feet.
"So, do you want to derezz me?" she asked.
"Yes," he replied. Several long picocycles went by before he added, "…not because of the virus, though."
She gave a small grin at that and stepped from the water, saying, "I'll risk it."
They decided that it would take a few more cycles for the Sea of Simulation to be free of the virus.
They recalled Spike from where they had left him happily playing with wild bits, and headed back towards the city.
It wasn't long before their lightrunner had pulled up outside of the building that housed CLU's headquarters.
"Like we said, right?" Feral said, looking over at Rinzler.
He merely looked over at her and opened his door.
When she got out of the lightrunner, Rinzler grabbed her upper arm in an unescapable grip. She relaxed slightly at the touch. This would go as they planned; it just wasn't going to be fun. CLU was going to be furious with their unexpected absence.
Mere nanocycles after they entered the building sentries had stopped them.
"We have orders to take you to CLU whenever you appeared," they said, leading them down towards CLU's audience chamber. Their footsteps echoed slightly in the nearly empty corridors.
The door to CLU's audience chamber slid open when they arrived, revealing a tall silhouette outlined in golden-yellow circuits standing in front of the window at the far end of the chamber.
"What is it?" questioned a mellow voice, calmly.
"We've brought Rinzler and the other program, sir," one of the sentries answered.
There was the sound of someone taking a deep breath.
"Leave us," CLU ordered.
The sentries gave a slight bow, turned, and left.
CLU remained standing, his back to them. After a while he spoke.
"Where did you take her, Rinzler, to be gone so long?" CLU asked, his voice mild.
"Wasn't his fault," Feral interrupted. "If he hadn't come after me, I wouldn't be here now."
CLU continued to look out the window, his hands clasped behind his back.
"Really?" he said. "Perhaps you should explain that more…"
She shot a look at Rinzler, who was still holding onto her arm.
"I ran," she said. "He came after me."
CLU turned to look at her.
"You…ran," he said, walking closer to her. He motioned Rinzler back with a small, quick jerk of his head. "I have trouble believing that he could not catch up with you before very long."
"He did," Feral told him, her chin up defiantly; her eyes watching CLU as he slowly began circling her as she stood there.
"Did he?" CLU murmured quietly. "And yet you were gone for quite some time."
"He couldn't bring me back from where I went," she said.
"And where were you?" CLU asked; a small smile on his face.
"The Sea of Simulation. It doesn't affect Users the way it does programs."
"Oh, the Sea," CLU said. He came to a halt in front of her. "Aren't you the clever one?"
"I thought that he would give up and leave," Feral said, grudgingly. "Any of the other security programs would have left eventually."
"Yet here you are," replied CLU.
"He stayed until I had to come out of the sea," she told CLU, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm not a fish…I couldn't stay in it forever."
CLU reached out with one hand and ran his fingertips over the scar on Feral's face. "Take her to my quarters and tether her," CLU ordered Rinzler, his blue eyes never leaving Feral's. "We are going to go over why you will not try to run away, again," he told her.
Feral jerked her face away from CLU's fingers.
She was beginning to hate having anyone touch her face.
She had known what would happen when they returned. That didn't mean that she would like it.
A/N-You can all hate me just a little more for having done that.
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